


Of Turncoats And Politics

by PalauMaggot



Series: Coming Into His Own [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Magic Politics, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Multi, Protective Derek Hale, Slow Build, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-03-09 09:52:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3245276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalauMaggot/pseuds/PalauMaggot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some threatening visitors might put Stiles's training on the back burner for a little while. (Damn. Just when he was starting to get somewhere.)<br/>He guessed that he could just practice while his trainer was away right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. End of the Beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this chapter might seem Aliyah centric but unfortunately it has to happen for the whole story come out right. Apologies. Chapter 2 will focus on Stiles.

Three weeks and a day was how long the withdrawals had lasted. Every single time one started to flare up Aliyah was always there to help and for it, Stiles was immensely grateful.

Derek never left them alone when she came over. He liked to lurk in the room, not making any effort to disguise his watching.

Every time she helped Stiles, they talked for a good amount. Taking the mind off of the withdrawal helps make it go away faster is what she claimed. The first few times he felt guilty that she was going through it for him but Aliyah ended up nipping that in the butt.

“I’m doing this because I want to. Not because I have to. It’s my choice Stiles.”

She also may have slapped the back of his head as well. Derek growled and Stiles laughed when Mr. angry eyebrows (Aliyah’s words, not his.) was suddenly pushed into the corner and facing the walls like a time out.

“No coming out ‘til you’re happy.”

Derek stayed there until she left. At which point he fumed quietly while making dinner.

Stiles opted to stay at the loft since his dad would be going out to work more often than not, his dad agreed after Stiles said that he didn’t want to be alone.

He had a slight unrealistic fear of Evelyn coming back for him somehow. Stiles only told his dad but he also figured the pack knew about it as well. Sometimes Aliyah would mentally link them up if she wanted to talk to him in private.

She would ask him if he had any questions that he didn’t want Derek to overhear.

He didn’t but he also thought that was sort of peculiar. Stiles still trusted her with his life (and now his training) but he thought it was a little weird with how secretive about herself she could be.

For instance when he asked her why she was shielding her power again.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s more of a force of habit really. One can never be too careful!” It was honestly a little creepy how she was brushing it off so carelessly and happily but also kind of enlightening.

It seemed not like she was just hiding her powers but that she was hiding from something or someone.

A week into his recovery she started coaching him on little things with his magic. She figured she would just leave out the rules of spells and capacities so he could continue to unconsciously figure ways around the limitations. But she made sure he had memorized the cardinal rules.

1\. Never drain another’s magic forcefully or without consent

2\. Life is balance, do not upset it.

3\. Listen.

The first time Stiles heard all three he asked Aliyah on the last one, “What am I supposed to listen to?”

The witch just smiled at him, “Everything.” She shrugged and spun around, “That’s the best that I can describe it. We all figure it out on our own so I can’t really tell you my meaning until you know yours.”

Stiles grumbled and crossed his arms, “That doesn’t seem fair.” It was in good humor though and she understood. He felt her pat his head and wink.

“You’ll understand, probably sooner than you think!”

She also asked him not to use the pendant as a crutch, “You never know if it’s going to be lost and then you’re gonna be screwed if you were only relying on it in the first place.”

He saw the sense in that so he kept the pendant in a small box, hidden away just in case he ended up needing it again.

After the withdrawals were over with he asked her how long she was staying.

She stood there tapping her fingers on her bag strap that was across her chest, “I should really get going sooner rather than later.”

Stiles noticed that she didn’t seem like she wanted to go so he tried his best to cheer her up, “You know you can visit anytime you want, right?”

She just smiled sadly, “It’s not that simple. I really wish it could be.” Aliyah shrugged before turning around to leave.

“What if I want you as a trainer person?” He blurted out before he could think about it. Stiles felt Derek freeze in the living room. Of course he would be listening.

Aliyah stopped and looked over her shoulder at him with an eyebrow raised.

Stiles backpedaled a little bit, “I mean, uh, well I need someone to help me out and Deaton’s great! Don’t get me wrong!” by this time she had turned fully around, “It’s just, it seems like we are more similar in magic ways? If that makes any sense?” He sighed and dropped his hands mid-flail, “You also don’t speak in riddles.”

She let out a small laugh and shook her head. Aliyah ended up sitting right where she was and thought about it for a while.

Stiles noticed Derek pinning him with a glare. The ADHD kid just shrugged. It made sense to him to ask since (to his knowledge) there wasn’t any other ‘magic-users’ in the area.

A few minutes went by and by that time Stiles realized that she was meditating. He tapped his fingers in his thigh before going to the kitchen and getting a soda. If she was actually in the meditative state then she was seriously thinking it over.

He fiddled with the can’s tab before pulling it off and spinning it on the counter.

That was how Derek walked in on him, “It’s not a good idea.”

Stiles straightened and raised one of his eyebrows, “Is it a bad one?” At the other’s rolling of eyes he continued, “You know why I asked that and where I’m coming from Derek. Like it or not I do need someone to help me with this.”

“You have Deaton.”

Stiles shook his head and looked out the window again, “Deaton isn’t the same thing as I am.” He sighed and started tapping the counter with the soda tab, “Like it or not, she’s the closest thing I’ve got. I’m going to try to hold onto that because I don’t want to mess whatever I have up and destroy a whole town.” The whole powers thing was very stressful and new to the teen.

It was so much easier when he was just the token human.

Derek sighed again and crossed his arms, “I still don’t trust her.”

Stiles quirked a smile at him and shrugged. He honestly didn’t know if he did either.

_____

Deaton sighed as he cleaned off the table from his last patient. The little bit of dog drool was slightly smelly otherwise he would have addressed Aliyah as soon as she came inside of the room.

“Have you at least let them know where you are?”

She rolled her eyes before looking out of the window, “I let them know what I was doing and that I would be away longer than planned.” She glanced at Deaton’s disapproving face before looking away again.

“So that’s a no.” Deaton went around the table and placed his hand on her shoulder, “The longer you wait, the more drastic measures they’re going to take.”

Aliyah seemingly crumbled under his touch, “I just really don’t want to go back. And besides, I’m helping train Stiles right now and a teacher can’t leave their student when they’re learning the basics.”

The vet raised an eyebrow, “That sounded exactly like an excuse.” He gently turned her to face him, “It’s not going to matter to them. You need to go back soon.”

Aliyah looked down to the floor again, choosing to not say anything.

“I know it’s getting hard to mask yourself. Have you even slept?” His tone turned to worrying.

Aliyah gave a little laugh knowing that he wasn’t going to like her answer, “Does meditation count?”

Deaton sighed again, “You’re going to have to sleep soon Aliyah, this is dangerous to you and others.”

The brunette crossed her arms over her stomach, “I know, It’s just,” She cut herself off and started again, “Do you have a room?”

Deaton shook his head, “This town wasn’t built for a divine spell-caster. And I didn’t think I would have to house one either.”

She turned away and started biting her thumbnail, “If I let go, they can find me.”

The vet watched her pace for a few seconds, “If you don’t, you can die.” He was worried for her. She was one of his students back when he helped young magic users find their powers and figure out what they specifically were. He had helped her figure out where she needed to go to.

Aliyah looked back at Deaton and smiled sadly, “A lot of people wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“I would.” The emissary walked back to his cupboard and pulled out a few things, “And that’s why I’m giving you this.” He held out a small container of powder.

Aliyah took it and looked at it curiously.

“It can limit your power for a few hours.” He let that sink in and walked back to the table.

She looked at it again and then back to Deaton, “So then I will show up as just some run of the mill magic user?” at his nod she smiled, “Thank you! Oh man, if you weren’t so adverse to hugs I’d tackle you!”

“I am appreciative that you didn’t.”

Aliyah’s phone buzzed and she took it out to read the text, “That’s Stiles, I’ll be back later okay?” She looked out of the window again, “I wouldn’t want Derek to tear my throat out while I slept since he would feel it.”

Deaton nodded and walked to the back room, “I’ll get a little cot set up for you.”

Aliyah set the powder on the table and nodded gratefully, “Thank you again Alan.”

___

Stiles was pacing as he waited for Aliyah to show up. Derek had gone out shopping and he needed to ask her a question that had been bugging him for the whole of his morning. His mind couldn’t come up with anything to really explain as to what he felt when he merged with Derek’s alpha magic all those months ago.

There was a knock on the door and he almost immediately answered it, “I have a question.” He blurted out as she was starting to say something.

Aliyah blinked and nodded, “Okay, shoot.” She followed Stiles inside and sat on one of the couches opposite of him.

Stiles tapped his fingers against one another, “When what’s-her-face had me and I was fighting back, you gave me power.”

Aliyah immediately shook her head, “I didn’t give it, it was just vetted through me.”

Stiles nodded, “Yeah yeah yeah, I’m just saying, it was Derek’s wasn’t it? Because he’s the alpha?”

Aliyah nodded not entirely sure as to where this was going, “Yeah?”

He ran a hand through his hair, “I was just wondering, when I felt the magic-” Realization started to dawn on Aliyah’s face, “-it felt… I don’t really know how to describe it but warm? I also got tingly fingertips but that could have been from the magic itself since it’s happened before on a smaller scale.” He stopped himself from continuing his rambling.

Aliyah started twiddling her thumbs, wondering how to answer him. She looked back up at him and gave a half smile, “You might punch me but I’m going to have to channel Deaton right now.”

Stiles groaned and let himself fall back onto his couch, “That was why I liked you! You didn’t speak in riddles!”

Aliyah chuckled and relaxed back, “Your two’s magic is very compatible. It mixes a bit better than any other’s you would try to mix with. The warm feeling would come but not to the extent that it was for you and him.”

“So what does that mean?” Stiles asked more to himself, resigned not to get an answer.

Aliyah bit her lip and tapped her thumb on the armrest, ‘ _Ah, what the hell._ ’ “It means you guys are mates.”

Stiles choked on his own spit.

Aliyah watched in amusement as Stiles tried to get ahold of his breathing, “D’yo- D’you need a hand there?” She was trying really hard not to laugh at his expense; unfortunately she wasn’t succeeding too well.

Stiles caught a hold of his breath and stared back at Aliyah with wide eyes, “Are you serious?” At her nod he let his sight drop to the floor, ‘ _No fuckin way._ ’

Aliyah sighed fondly at the boy, “You know it’s not the end of the world right?” She leaned forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, “He knows it too.” She thought about it for a second before continuing, “Well, I mean, he unconsciously knows it. I’m not too sure about consciously.”

Stiles looked at her with a deadpan look, “He doesn’t really like me.” He let an “Ow.” Slip past his lips when she slapped the back of his head.

“You’ve been living with him for how long now?! If mister growly-pants didn’t like you, then you would have never stayed one night here.” She looked towards the ceiling as if asking for help, “How can you not see it?”

Stiles was semi guarding his head at this point, “…See what?” He asked hesitantly.

Aliyah placed her hands on her hips and stared at him, “He’s letting you live here for how long? He doesn’t like me being alone with you because I’m not exactly in his trust book yet? He cooked for you when you were going through withdrawals?” She shook her head and sighed again, “And besides, the only thing that ‘mates’ means is that you two are super compatible.” ‘ _More than super but they need more time before they can accept that._ ’

Stiles rubbed the spot that she hit absentmindedly, “Okay, yeah.” He said.

Aliyah shook her head and stood, “Alright, I’m gonna be leaving now, I’m sure Derek is coming back soon from where ever he’s at.” She looked at Stiles wryly, “I’m guessing you don’t want him finding out I was here after all.”

Stiles shrugged and stood to walk her out. “Tomorrow?”

The Native American nodded, “Of course, wouldn’t want you to skip out on a day of training.”

___

 

Three figures seemingly appeared out of the forest behind Derek’s house. They slowly turned their heads, looking around and taking in the sights.

“Are you sure this is the right place?”

The figure on the far right nodded their head.

“It seems too quaint for our tastes.”

The one of the left leaned towards the one in the middle, “Remember she isn’t like us.”

The middle person nodded, “Right.” They gestured towards the small city, “Shall we go?”

The other two nodded and followed as the middle strode forward.

___

It had been a day since the mates talk. Aliyah took the powder and, with Deaton’s help, mixed it with a little bit of water and chugged it down. She felt the shift in her power and went to sleep on the cot that he had set up for her earlier.

She was pretty much dead to the world when Derek did stop by. Deaton had told her that nothing really happened. She highly doubted that.

She was now talking to Stiles about what magic was typically used for on a day to day basis when she felt it. Aliyah was in the middle of her sentence to Stiles when she paused and inhaled deeply. Her face paled and her eyes widened in recognition, “Oh shit.”

Stiles opened one of his eyes and watched her before opening the other, “Youuuu alright?” He watched her take a few deep breaths and close her eyes as if she was composing herself. Stiles glanced at Derek who was watching from a small distance and motioned him to come closer.

Derek uncrossed his arms and started walking towards them, he only gave a slight pause when Stiles linked up their minds to talk, ‘ _Don’t say anything out loud, I think something might be happening. She seems twitchy._ ’ He still needed to get used to the sudden connections.

Aliyah stared at the street after composing herself and relaxed her shoulders. ‘ _Keep calm. Try not to talk_.’

Both males blinked at the sudden words. Derek was about to argue when Stiles placed a hand on his arm. Stiles shook his head and looked back at Aliyah. He felt Derek tense under his hand a few seconds before three hooded figures appeared in front of Aliyah.

He had to bite his lip from letting out a curse of surprise.

‘ _Derek?_ ’

‘ _Hm._ ’

‘ _Can you feel that?’_

_‘Yes.’_

All three of their powers were not shielded like Aliyah liked to keep hers. They had no fear about letting people know that they were powerful. It was such a change from the nonexistent blip that Aliyah had and it was most likely to attract the others in the pack. Maybe even Deaton.

The middle figure took off their hood revealing a lady. She regarded all of them with an intensity that shouldn’t have been possible before she focused on Aliyah, “Long time no see, little one.”

The outside two took off their hoods which showed another brunette woman and a man. The female had her eyes trained on Aliyah as well in an almost predatory manner but the man’s were on the ground.

Aliyah kept her gaze on the middle woman and raised her chin slightly, “We both know I’m not supposed to be addressed like that.”

The woman smiled and tilted her head, “Oh but didn’t you know? It’s not exactly looked highly upon to abandon your post with no way to contact you.” She started to walk towards Aliyah, “We were all so worried that your duties wouldn’t be seen through so there was an admonition.” She spread her hands out in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture and finally took the last step to Aliyah.

The younger hadn’t moved from her spot but when the other spread out her arms she leaned forward to accept the hug, “And may I ask who led the admonition Krisa?”

Stiles got the feeling that the hug would have been a strangling on both parties if it was allowed.

Krisa shrugged and stayed where she was, “Just a few concerned parties, no one wanted to do it of course, but someone had to,” (Stiles also got the feeling that that was sarcastic), “Myself, Payton and Simon for starters.” She waved her hand behind her at the two other magic users.

Aliyah stepped back after they broke apart and leveled a stare at the man who was avoiding looking at her, “Interesting.” She looked back to Krisa, “But unneeded. You of all people should know that a proctor is allowed leave if they’ve taken on a pupil.”

Krisa’s brown eyes turned delighted, “Ah yes, you’re so called pupil. If I remember correctly, only a year ago you were stating that you would never take on a pupil.” She tapped her fingers together thoughtfully, “What was it you said? ‘I’m too impatient for students.’ Is that correct?”

Aliyah just quirked half a smile, partly because of spite and as well as Stiles’s sudden indignation at being a ‘supposed pupil’, “People change.”

The older woman paced slowly, “Teaching doesn’t suit everyone.” She glared at Aliyah from the corner of her eyes, “Especially addicts.”

“I’ve stopped that long ago.” Aliyah dropped her pleasant tone and took on a more deadly one, “And accusing someone of that is a very grave mistake if proven wrong.”

Krisa just smiled as if a pet did something cute, “I was just saying. No need to get touchy little miss. I know you’ve ‘grown up’.”

There was that sarcasm again.

Aliyah took a small calming breath. Dealing with Krisa always left her angry. The way that she talked down to everyone was very infuriating. She pointed her gaze to the two behind Krisa, “I didn’t think you to travel with an entourage.” She looked back with a raised eyebrow, “Expecting someone to attack you?”

Krisa’s eyes narrowed, “We heard a few stories surrounding this town.” She looked to Derek and Stiles, finally acknowledging their presence, “Wouldn’t want to be taken by surprise.”

Stiles kept his hand on Derek’s arm, knowing he was using much of his self-control not to lash out at the unknown magic users on his territory. It was honestly very annoying keeping his mouth shut. He felt Derek twitch and looked up to see a car coming down the road.

He swallowed and opened up a mental link with everyone, ‘ _Stay in the car please guys._ ’

‘ _What the hell are you dealing with Stilinski?_ ’ Ah, hello Jackson.

‘ _What’s happening?_ ’ And a fine good afternoon to you Lydia.

‘ _Do we need to call anyone else in?_ ’ And sweet sweet Scott.

Stiles was surprised that Allison wasn’t in the car with them, ‘ _Not sure what we’re dealing with yet, but it definitely has to do with Aliyah._ ’

‘ _I told you we couldn’t trust her._ ’

Stiles refused to roll his eyes just in case the magic users were tuned into him, ‘ _Derek, you have an intense distrust of everyone you first meet. If I remember right, you smacked me into countless walls and one time my own jeep steering wheel._ ’

There was an interesting groan sound that Stiles didn’t think could be transmitted through the mind link, ‘ _Did you just think a groan so it would carry over Jackson!?_ ’

‘ _All this tension between you two is – OW._ ’

‘ _Don’t mind him everyone, now Stiles, what do we have with this situation?_ ’ Way to bring everyone back on track Lyds.

Stiles recounted everything that happened and held back a small wince, ‘ _Okay, not to piss everyone off but this whole thing is starting to give me a headache._ ’ He may be some nifty magic person (with wiggly fingers) but he had never linked up multiple people at once before.

‘ _I think Deaton is coming down the road._ ’

Stiles didn’t quite know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, ‘ _Well damn._ ’ He debated linking in the vet too and when the car was visible he did it.

A small sharp pain spiked through the right side of his brain and this time he wasn’t able to hold back the small wince.

‘ _Hey Deaton, just so you know stuff going down and Aliyah told us to stay put._ ’

‘ _I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this._ ’

Okay that was definitely some bit of information.

At another spike of pain Stiles quickly thought, ‘ _Too much. Stopping now._ ’ And cut the connections. The sudden quiet that was in his head was very relaxing and a small whisper of something had him blinking. Tingly fingers and the warmth in his chest was there, he felt _good._

He felt Derek tense beside him and looked up from his hands. He followed the werewolf’s eyesight to Krisa and startled when he noticed that she was looking right at him.

“So this is your pupil is it?”

Well shit. Yeah, having the attention of someone that powerful was not something that Stiles wanted at the moment. He glanced at Aliyah who could only give him an apologetic stare as the other slowly walked forward.

“And how did you go about changing her mind about taking on a pupil, young one?” She asked, stopping a few feet away.

Stiles gave a half shrug, “My charming personality.” He could hear his entire group mentally face palm themselves but hey, lack of filter was something that he had in stressful situations. Stiles could see Aliyah biting her lip, trying not to smile and knew it was probably a good enough answer.

Krisa regarded him for a few seconds before looking to Derek, “…Uh huh,” She smiled (very evily.) and turned back around, “Aliyah you are requested for a trial back at the compound.” She walked back to the two others in her group, “You have to be there in a week in order to rightly put your side and defend your actions.”

Krisa glanced back to the cars and turned again, “The verdict will be reached when the council hears your side and we will let you know of your fate.”

With that the three turned around and walked away, disappearing after a few steps.

The tense silence that left the group was present as ever and broken by everyone piling out of the cars.

Aliyah let out a long sigh and sat down on the dirt road, “Oh gods fuck it all.” She buried her face in her hands and lied on her back. She dragged her hands off of her face to stare at the sky.

Stiles nodded and tapped his fingers against his legs, still a little bit power high from his recent mind-melding and stepped forward to her, “Sooo what was that about?”

Aliyah sighed and lifted her hand to gesture everyone else to come over to where they were. She waited until the group was surrounding them before she sat up and closed her eyes, “I’m a head of the magical council.”

Well that was certainly not what Stiles had expected at all.

Deaton was staring down the way that the other magic users had disappeared with his arms crossed. He seemed like he was angry.

At the collective group’s silence she continued, “We make sure that all of the cardinal rules and shit are followed. I was technically already tracking Evelyn when Deaton called me. I figured it would help me out and then everything else happened.” She said sighing again.

Stiles blinked at that and then sat down next to her, “So after you found her, you were supposed to kill her right?”

Aliyah gave him a humorless smile, “I’m supposed to bring her back for a trial and then they would have ended up draining her so she would just be mundane but when people put up a fight we have to protect ourselves.” She looked back to the sky, “They all think I did it by the way. There would be too many complicated hoops for you to jump through if they found out it was you.”

Stiles nodded and then glanced up to the others.

Lydia stepped forward, “Is there anything that we should be preparing for with these three in town?”

Aliyah looked to the red head, “I don’t know.”

Scott looked tempted to raise his hand before just asking his question, “What did they mean by all of that ‘council, verdict’ stuff?”

Aliyah went quiet, “They’re trying to usurp me.” She said after a short while. The witch sat up and looked at Deaton.

The vet just quirked an eyebrow.

She shook her head and glared at the ground.

Stiles looked at Derek and shrugged, “I’m guessing it’s a big-ish deal, yeah?”

“It’s really hard to get into that high of a position in politics.” Deaton said from his spot, further away from the pack and Aliyah, “Like any form of politics, there is a lot of corruption.” He gestured to the area where the three others were, “Krisa has been after a spot in the community for a long time.”

“Witch with a B is what she is.” Aliyah said under her breath and sighed audibly again. “I suppose I should stop hiding now shouldn’t I?” she said more to herself and then let the full extent of her powers be released.

Everyone in the clearing besides Deaton felt the ‘whoosh’ and was caught off balance for a few seconds.

Aliyah stood up and looked to all of them, “I’ll be getting going then.” She smiled and then turned towards Deaton, “I can pick up my stuff right now if you want.”

Stiles scrambled to stand and reached forwards, “Wait! You’re still my teacher aren’t you?” He felt Derek tense again but ignored it. He was learning so much more from Aliyah than he ever did with Deaton, “How long will you be gone and what about my training?”

Aliyah let a small smile rest on her face, “Even if I am usurped, I do have to finish training any person I have taken on as a pupil.” She shrugged and looked towards the sky again, “You’ll just be set back a bit in your training okay?”

Stiles nodded and relaxed. He watched her walk away with Deaton and sighed.

Lydia scoffed and turned back to the car, it was slightly anticlimactic and she wanted a bit more on the drama front. (Drama could be fun, especially when she could set things on fire.) “Jackson, we should be leaving now.”

The blonde rolled his eyes and turned but not without punching Stiles in the arm roughly, “You should at least try to stay out of trouble Stilinski.”

Scott nodded at Derek and his best friend before leaving as well, “We should hang out soon bro.”

Stiles grinned at Scott, ignoring Jackson, “You know it.”

Derek watched Scott leave and then turned his attention back to Stiles, “Why do you do that?”

Stiles blinked and then absentmindedly brushed off his pants, “Do what?”

Derek shook his head and let his arms finally fall from their crossed position, “Trust her.”

The younger smiled and shrugged. He really didn’t have an answer.

___

 

Aliyah froze in her packing her bag and turned towards the hallway of Deaton’s office. She dropped the bag on the floor and stepped towards the door, “I was particularly surprised that you were in her entourage Simon.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway.

The man wrung his hands together and kept his eyes lowered, “It’s not what it looks like.” He replied quietly.

The girl scoffed and rolled her eyes, “No, it’s exactly what it looks like to me.” She stepped forward and took one of his hands, “She intimidated and threatened you.” At his surprised look up she smiled, “See? Exactly what it looked like.”

Simon looked down again, “I’m sorry.”

Aliyah tapped his chin with her fist lightly, “It’s fine dude. I just gotta sort this out and then she’ll be under investigation.”

He looked back at her and shook his head, “It’s bigger than that.” He lowered his voice, “I’m pretty sure she’s here for more than just you.” Simon stared at her, hoping that Aliyah would get his meaning.

She tilted her head in confusion before her expression cleared into realization, “Stiles.” She turned away from Simon and started pacing, ‘ _Of course she would be curious about the Changellor but to try to pull this with me at the same time?_ ’ She stopped and looked back to her friend, “The court doesn’t need her while I go back, does it? She said more as a statement than question.

Simon shook his head.

“Shit. That means she’ll be here for however long I’m gone.” She raced out of Deaton’s clinic in search of her student.

___

 

Stiles was grocery shopping when he bumped into Krisa. She had been hiding her energy so he couldn’t feel where she was. He blinked before smiling uneasily, “Uh, sorry.”

The witch didn’t grace him with a response, she just stood there with her arms folded loosely around her middle and watched him.

Stiles tapped his fingers against his arm before turning around and walking away, ‘ _Creeepyyy._ ’ He sung in his head just in case she was somehow in his thoughts without him knowing. (Highly improbable, but hey, magic isn’t an exact science.)

He looked back when he reached the end of the aisle and noticed that she was gone. Great. Subtract a teacher for a short while and then gain a stalker. Stiles went to pay for his things and sat in his car to send out a text before making his way home.

‘ _Can you come over to my place before you leave? I have a question._ ’

Stiles didn’t have time to be surprised that Aliyah was already sitting on his porch when he got there but smiled all the same. There was a familiar feeling of linking minds and continued to go about bringing his things inside.

‘ _Krisa visited you didn’t she?_ ’

‘ _Yep. It was super freaky._ ’

“What time are you leaving?” Stiles figured that now would be a good time as any to practice multitasking conversations.

Aliyah went forward to grab a couple of bags from him and helped Stiles put them away.

‘ _She’s going to try something when I’m away. I’m not sure what but all of this stuff is too coincidental._ ’

‘ _Great._ ’

“As soon as I’m done packing then I’ll be off. It’s probably best that I get this over with.” Aliyah sat down on one of the chairs in the dining room and picked an apple out of the bowl of fruit. She didn’t start eating it, instead choosing to roll it around the table in front of her.

Stiles leaned against one of the counters and crossed his arms, “Yeah I can see that. How long do you think it’ll take?”

‘ _So pretty much be careful and don’t listen to her or either of her goons while she’s here?_ ’

“Not long. The traveling is probably going to take the longest truthfully.” Aliyah bit into her apple.

‘ _The man is okay. He’s being blackmailed. His name’s Simon. But yeah be careful with the other two._ ’

“Politics suck don’t they?”

Aliyah laughed as she bit into the fruit again and nodded, “Yeah, they kind of do.” ‘ _The only reason I joined was because of Deaton._ ’

Stiles nodded to both of the answers and sighed again, “So… until next time?” He awkwardly held out one of his hands for her to shake.

Aliyah glanced at the hand with a grin. She shook it as she laughed quietly, ‘ _You’re so weird. Don’t change okay?_ ’ “I will see you in the future Stiles.”

“Right back at you.” Stiles replied to both again, grinning, and cut the connection so she could leave. “Oh!” He stopped her during her turn, “One more quick question.”

Aliyah nodded and tilted her head, “Go ahead.”

“As I do more powerful things do I get more powerful, uh, after effects?”

Aliyah blinked, “That’s typically how it goes yeah, but it’s kind of dangerous as well.”

Stiles opened his mouth but thought better of it and closed it, “Alright then, I’ll see you when you get back!”

Aliyah grinned again and turned to leave the house. When she turned away she let her face fall, ‘ _Not him. Oh please not him too._ ’


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles had been practicing a few different spells and techniques with Deaton while his teacher was sorting out her mess. He liked working with the vet, but he felt that what they were working on wasn’t exactly what he wanted to.

Stiles wanted to help the pack. He wanted to be able to protect them if something happened. He didn’t want to feel useless anymore.

So in hindsight maybe practicing some more powerful spells unattended wasn’t exactly that smart of an idea. But he was able to do some of them if he believed enough (funny how that works.)

Stiles had felt the rush after attempting the different spells and after some experimenting he realized that the more he taxed himself, the more that feeling came. He knew that it was dangerous from Aliyah’s warning and kept himself in check (only attempting barely once a week.)

He practiced shielding himself with Deaton’s help and made sure that it worked by trying to find the other magical beings in the area. The pack was all for that course of action after Stiles explained it all to them. (The whole sensing thing that is... not the other stuff.)

He felt that only a few people would get it.

Stiles moved back in with his dad a few days after Aliyah left. He felt like he was crowding Derek a bit too much. And he also figured that the werewolf didn’t particularly enjoy the whole ‘practicing magic’ thing given his distrust of witches.

Stiles kept the whole revelation of the mate thing quiet. He wasn’t sure if that was a thing that he would have to tell Derek and, if it was, then Stiles wasn’t sure how he would want Derek to react to him knowing.

He slid on a flannel over-shirt and tied his shoes, today he was going to try and find Simon. Maybe he would be able to clear up some things and help him out.

Those three were always shielded but Stiles figured that there had to be a way around it. Deaton didn’t know, but after sleeping on the question he had another one.

What if he could find the absence of a person?

It was farfetched but worth a shot. And as he entered the vet’s office, he found out it was also irrelevant. Simon was talking to the good vet and both of them had quieted as soon as Stiles showed up.

“...Well that feels like you were talking about me.”

Simon glanced away and folded his hands together in front of him, “I’m just going to be leaving.”

Stiles immediately shook his head, “Actually, I wanted to talk to you if that’s okay?” He glanced to Deaton who had a single eyebrow raised in a question.

What was it with this town and eyebrow communication?

Simon nodded, a little bewildered at the request.

Stiles smiled and gave a mental fist pump, “Are we good to speak freely here?” He asked Deaton. AKA was there a risk of anyone (evil people) eavesdropping in on them. At the doctor’s nod he continued, “I know Aliyah trusts you and there’s something going on but I’m just wondering why so many people hate her?”

Simon’s face fell a little bit and gestured to the table, “Not a lot actually hate her. They just don’t like that she’s uprooting the system.”

They all sat and Stiles noticed that Deaton didn’t particularly like that he was asking, “Uprooting?”

“She’s slowly changing things so that it’s more balanced and smooth. Her ideas are good and I feel that if she had a different background that less people would be against it.” Simon paused, glanced at both of them before continuing, “She was an addict.”

Stiles sat back and tilted his head, “What was she addicted to?”

Simon shrugged, “Magic. A while ago she and her friend at the time created this candle that had certain properties. It kept them at a certain level of inebriation.”

Stiles’s breath was punched out of him. Aliyah had helped create the candle that Evelyn exposed him to, “What was the friend’s name?” He managed to croak out. His voice had begun to choke up.

Simon’s eyes narrowed as he watched Stiles’s slight breakdown, “Evelyn.”

Well shit.

___

After some more of the story from Simon, Stiles had learned that his teacher had eventually seen the light and tried to get Evelyn to do the same.

The evil one didn’t see the point and they fought and voila no more friendship.

But also apparently the candle had side effects that screwed over Aliyah as well. (Stiles freaked a bit but Deaton assured him that he hadn’t been exposed to the candle for long enough.) She had to keep a ring on her at all times that starved off the need for a fix.

These fixes didn’t have to be the candle. It was a need for more magic. Without the ring she would try to strip anyone of their magic for herself.

So, basically, the reverse of the One Ring to Rule Them All.

Stiles went home and had a silent freak out by himself. His teacher was basically responsible for the whole candle debacle. But at the same time he remembered that there were mistakes that he had made in the past that he regretted. (Lying was a big one on that list.) So he figured that he wouldn’t tell anyone else about her past and leave it at that.

(Derek would definitely have a huge fit if he had found out.)

Needing to burn off some more of his excess energy, he shielded himself and drove out towards the woods behind the Hale property. Derek was home but the werewolf knew that Stiles meditated in the woods to help with his control. (At least that was the story Stiles had told him –and at that point it was true, just not so much anymore-)

Like he said, the lying thing was a big regret.

But Stiles thought that it was worth it if it would keep the pack safe. It made sense to him anyways.

Sitting in the woods, Stiles concentrated on one of the flower buds on the ground. It had fallen recently since it was still green. He let out a breath and let his hand hover over it.

With each passing second of focus he could feel his own magic starting to swirl just beneath the surface of his hand. He could feel it working. Stiles closed his eyes and grunted quietly.

Slowly he felt something shift. Stiles stamped down on his excitement and continued his effort. When he felt the changing stop, he opened his eyes and looked down. Stiles let out a loud, shocked laugh at the plant. He felt the familiar rush of success and hummed lightly through the high.

In place of the bud now sat a flower.

He had succeeded in changing the structure of one thing into another. So by practice he should be able to do bigger things.

Like maybe forcing a hostile werewolf back into human form.

Stiles let himself lay back against the Earth and sighed out happily. The feeling of success felt so good.

After a small amount of time he heard footsteps coming through towards him. Stiles reached out with his magic and after determining that it was just Derek he came back to himself and sat up, “Hi.”

Derek paused at the scene of Stiles sitting on the floor and brushed it off attributing it to magic stuff, “I have dinner if you’re hungry.”

After the past few months the usually gruff guy had softened a bit. Stiles figured it was because of the presence of the pack. (A kidnapping really brings people together.) “Dinner? What time is it?” He had started his experiment at around 2 in the afternoon.

“6:30.”

Stiles blinked and looked back up at the sky. Had that much time really passed? Noticing that it was quite a bit darker than when he had come out there he decided that he probably just fell asleep on the floor. Shrugging off his concern he took the hand that was offered and brushed himself off, “Sure, I can go for some food.”

They left the clearing together in an easy silence, if either one of them had looked back, they would have seen Krisa rolling a dandelion between her fingers with a slight smirk resting on her lips.

‘ _This is too easy._ ’

___

 

Stiles hummed to himself as the familiar warmth of magic rush through his fingertips. He closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the feeling. The whole thing was coming so naturally to him that it was a wonder that he never knew he was magical his entire life.

Stiles wondered idly for a few moments about DNA structures of different things and made the decision to go and talk to Lydia about what he was doing after he was done practicing again. He wanted to get the change down before experimenting on a living being. Stiles had already figured who would be the best to bring in on the project. Lydia for the biology questions and Scott could really keep a secret if it was important enough.

Stiles figured that he would play to the whole ‘surprise the pack’ to get Scott to hush up. Scott was a sucker for happy surprises.

Lydia would be another story.

He would have to appeal to her logical side and when she saw what he could do and how much it could help, Stiles had no doubt that she would see the sense. It really wouldn’t be that hard. Stiles just had to word it right.

After all of the trouble that had been happening lately, it definitely would be wise to start getting more ways to protect themselves. It was only good defense and Lydia was all for protecting the pack when things got tough.

He breathed out through the pleasant sensation that signaled his trick was done and looked down at the flower. Stiles grinned at the change in the phase of the dandelion and looked up to the sky feeling very proud of himself. He had managed to make the fully bloomed flower go back to its pre-bloomed stage.

This trick had all sorts of good usages; from blooming different, hard to grow, herbs to changing a feral werewolf to a not-as-lethal human.

Naturally he just had to think about it as a larger scale for a werewolf. Piece of cake.

___

 

“You want to force change a werewolf.” Lydia said skeptically. Since Stiles had shown her the trick with the flower she had to admit that she was intrigued, but it seemed too good to be true at this point, “How do you even know if it will work?”

Stiles was still a little bouncy from his magical rush and it was easy enough to blame it on his excitement, “That’s why I want to try it on Scott! He’s going to be the best one to practice with.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, “That’s not what I meant. You’re changing plants from a blossom to a bloom, but morphing a werewolf back into a human is a whole new ball game.” She shook her head and twirled the flower between her fingers, “The plant’s structure and makeup is the same, wolves and humans are different. It’s not going to be as easy as the flower.”

Stiles sat down at the table and glared at the table. He knew she had a point, “So help me think of a way around it. It’s technically the same DNA since it’s the same person right? I mean you would think.”

Lydia cocked her head and sat down beside him giving him a cursory glance, “Same DNA, but different type. I don’t think it’ll be that easy to figure out Stiles.” She looked at him again sighed, “It’s a good idea though.” She watched him for a few more seconds, “Are you feeling okay?”

Stiles blinked and looked over, “Yeah, why?” That question seemed to come out of the blue. He felt great actually.

Lydia continued to study him, “I don’t know, you seem… Off.” She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but Stiles was different.

The boy shrugged and broke eye contact with the red head, “Maybe I can somehow study the shift? And see how it works?”

Lydia’s attention shifted to the question, “Yeah, that could work. Understand how the DNA changes and then simply reverse it.” She tapped her manicured nail with a small smile, “I think you’re on to something there Stiles.”

Stiles grinned and stood from the seat, “Sweet, I’ll go and talk to Scott right now, I’ll call you later so we can figure out when to try it, I’m assuming that you would want to watch?”

Lydia smirked and nodded, “Of course.” She led him out of her house and watched from the window as he got into his jeep and drove off. After Stiles was out of sight she pulled out her cell phone and started texting.

‘ _Something’s up with Stiles. Keep it quiet._ ’

___

 

“Are you sure about this?”

Stiles gave his best friend a look, “I’m not going to do anything to you, I’m just seeing if I can study the changes your body goes through as it transforms.” He gestured around the forest and then looked back to his friend, “No one is here to see your doggy secret.” At this point Stiles thought that the hesitation to transform in public was ridiculous.

It wasn’t like they all talked about it in crowded areas as well as loudly. It’s a wonder how everyone still didn’t know.

Why couldn’t they get this good of luck when dealing with the supernatural baddies?

Oh well, back to focusing.

Scott finally gave in and transformed to his beta form, “Did you get it?”

Stiles shook his head, “Do you think you could slow it down?” He closed his eyes and focused on his best friend. All of his meditations were paying off and he could more or less get a sense of the supernatural energies.

The first time he was able to glimpse the power was at a pack training session. Stiles sat off to the side and started meditating as normal. A few moments in he felt himself slip deeper and then everything had slowly appeared. In his amazement he knocked himself out of the zone but tried that much harder the next time.

Stiles practiced more when he got the feeling of the way the energy worked and it started coming easier to him every time he did it.

So now he was focusing on Scott’s energy and the miscellaneous pathways that they took as he slowly changed. Stiles could tell that the slow transformation was slightly difficult for Scott from his own concentration.

Stiles unconsciously smiled in wonder at being able to see the change from human into wolf. It was the coolest thing he had ever seen. He was aware of Lydia’s presence sitting off to the left simply watching but he was focused entirely on Scott.

After the transformation was done he opened his eyes and looked at his best friend, “I think I’ll need to see it a few more times.” Stiles didn’t want to totally screw up Scott’s biology or worse, get him stuck between the two. Stiles had already figured out his whole plan of attack for tackling the problem.

The first few times he would simply observe. The next few after that he would try and see if he could follow the magic flow and “experience” Scott’s change. And then Stiles would try to change him.

Little steps and all that.

The anticipation was making him a little more than giddy as well. Stiles couldn’t wait to see if his magic would be able to do this. He figured that he would just watch for today and maybe try to shift Scott, but it entirely depended on his furry friend.

If Scott was exhausted from changing so many times then Stiles wouldn’t want to put any more pressure on him, but if he was just fine then Stiles wouldn’t say no to more practice.

___

 

Aliyah growled to herself as she came back through Beacon Hills. After settling the ripples that Krisa had caused, Aliyah had requested an inquiry towards the older woman. Considering what had happened (Mostly blackmail.) the inquiry was granted and Aliyah was to bring back both Krisa and Payton.

Simon was blackmailed as well and was free to continue to wander after Aliyah had shared his side of the story.

She twirled the ring around her finger a few times as she lost herself in thought. There were a few things that needed to be settled between the different parties involved. She needed to make sure that Simon was aware of the slap on the wrist and if Deaton could take up the post.

She also needed to find out what Krisa had attempted to do while she was away. Aliyah knew that the council was a distraction and any length of time leaving Krisa alone was cause for worry.

Especially if it spanned longer than two weeks. Even more if the subject that Krisa had focused on was a Changellor.

Aliyah was worried about what had happened while she was away. All she had were updates from Deaton about the little things that Stiles was trying. Plus a very worrying text from him saying that Lydia had contacted him because Stiles wasn’t acting normally.

That was a day ago.

Aliyah only hoped that she would be able to deal with the Krisa and Payton sized problem in a timely manner in order to deal with what she suspected is going on with Stiles…

before it was too late for him as well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long. there are some excuses(2 car accidents, 1 trip to ER, car shopping for a replacement, and gaining an extra job on top of the one i already had to pay for said new car and future aspirations.) as well as laziness to blame. ive also been locked out of my email for almost 3 months now... hopefully that gets fixed soon.  
> also, reading is just so much easier than writing.
> 
> anyhoo, two more installments to go, thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> reviews and kudos honestly remind me that i have an account.  
> sometimes i do forget hence the long terms between updating. <3


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